Mom Scores Big for Valentine's Day!!!

They looked more impressive before... But Daddy got Mom flowers. And they went out for dinner on Tuesday.

and here are my Valentines!!!!

If I sent you one, do you see yours?? This year, my valentines featured Mr. Charles Dickens. I decided that I am in love with his work and so he is worthy of my valentines. :) You like? Some of them have quotes, which I would post here, except I can't remember any of them. They were all different. I think there were more than what's pictured here.

I got a grand total of THREE valentine's this year. One of them was from my mom. I hope you guys all got more valentines than that!!!

This year, mine turned out really nerdy but they were super fun to make. I think I'm gonna have to make it a tradition... Nerdy Valentines. Yep. Although, I don't know how I'm gonna top this next year... Somehow. I already have a few ideas. We shall see.

The Past Revisited: Valentines from Last year-

Those ones turned out cute! But I was really happy with this years. And they weren't such a pain to make! And I went super stingy by only sending postcards instead of sticking them in envelopes. But I had more to send this year so I justified it. Hopefully those evil postal machines didn't tear them up too badly...

I also made cookies like last year but I didn't take pictures of them. Which is a shame because they turned out really cute!! And tasty!! All in all though, the day was pretty ordinary... But that's alright. I'm just happy to know that my valentines brightened up other people's V-day. (And this I know, because some people have told me!) 

The Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile

There it is in all its glory--the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile. Parked right outside Walmart, five minutes from our house!!!

Everything inside of this car is hot-dog themed. From the dashboard to the seats!

The full scale awesomeness with us standing in front of it.

Cameron dared to touch it with his finger!!

Then I touched it!
Outside the mobile, there was a little sign with the lyrics to various Oscar Meyer songs (I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Weiner, the Bologna song, a Spanish version...) and it was encouraging people to sing the songs. Which, I think would be an amazing thing to do for a city-wide scavenger hunt. That'd be fun.

FUN FACTS:

*The Weinermobile is 23 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 10 feet high!
*The Drivers of the weinermobile are called "hotdoggers" and often hand out tiny weiner whistles.
*Various custom license plates for the weinermobile have included: OUR DOG, OH I WISH, WEENR, WNRMOBL, BOLOGNA, and RELSHME, among others.

And it was right here in Tucson! At Walmart!!!

Crom Saunders--A Deaf Comedian!!

This is Mr. Crom Saunders and he is a deaf comedian. He is a comedian for the deaf community and he is deaf himself. Kerri and I saw him this evening and we had a great time! He is so funny! It was so different being in the lobby with all the deaf people; it was really silent. We discussed whether or not it was rude to stare when people are signing. It's very similar to eavesdropping, we decided.

In the auditorium, there was a girl and a boy on the stage and they were directing people who entered the doors toward the middle of the seats. Then they did a few opening things together, jokes, practice sign language (seeing if people know their colors, like [in sign language]"Stand up if you are wearing a red shirt")

Then when Crom came out, it was crazy!! He was so funny!! Since he was deaf, he didn't talk. Instead, an interpreter was sitting in the front row with a microphone and he interpreted throughout the whole show for the hearing people who couldn't understand all the sign language. There was a slight delay (naturally) but it was hardly noticeable.

One of the first things Crom did was a one-man, ten-minute hamlet! It was amazing! He had these chairs all lined up with pieces of paper taped on the back and each paper had a character on it. Then, he went behind the chairs and stood behind the character he was portraying and signed what that character was saying. To switch characters, he'd just run to the next chair. That was where the delay with the interpreting was the most obvious but the other times weren't too bad.

Crom told so many stories and acted out little skits and used audience participation... It was great. For one part, he pretended he was a director and then he called up people from the audience to be his actors. He'd show the actors what he wanted them to do and then he'd critique them and exaggerate what they were doing and correct them.

Here are the links for a few youtube videos if you are interested in a taste of what it was like:

Crom-Movie Director Part 1
Crom-Movie Director Part 2
Crom-Movie Director Part 3
Crom-Deaf Idol

They're older videos and first three are rather long but the last one is shorter. Feel free to check it out. We had a great time!!

Newspapers

Why is it that when I need a newspaper the most, WE DON'T HAVE ANY NEWSPAPERS?!
I don't get it. I mean, what's up with that?

Pickle Chiffon Pie

Is that not the saddest picture you ever saw? A ginormous empty vat that was once full of steaming chow [lo] mein!! Such sadness. I feel like the king in Pickle-Chiffon Pie by Jolly Roger Bradfield:

For those of you with squinty eyes, it reads:

"But everybody has problems.
The King had a daughter. Oh, she was very nice, and did whatever he told her to-- but she was also very beautiful, and every prince in the neighborhood wanted to marry her. Every day they came to the palace with flowers and gifts for her.

To be polite, she would ask them all to stay for supper, and that meant there would be less pickle-chiffon pie for the King. That was his problem."


I love this book.... Mom and I made the extremely labor intensive chow mein this afternoon for our home group and there was none leftover. :'(

Agitated Minds

So I'm sitting at the kitchen table while Cam is trying to do homework and he says, 


"Your presence is making my mind agitated!!!"

Cats the Musical-a review

So I am sick and yesterday, I decided that I wanted to watch Cats because it's been on my list of "movies to watch" for a while now...

It was very...interesting, to say the least. I was dependent on the Wikipedia page on the subject to understand the plot of the movie.

Basically, this musical is about a tribe of Cats and once a year there is a celebration where all the cats in the tribe come together and Old Deuteronomy (the old leader cat) chooses one special cat to be reborn into the Heaviside layer (a type of heaven, I assume...). The movie is a bit predictable in the fact that there is obviously only one cat whom he could possibly choose. And that is Grizzabella, the rejected cat, whose lost the sparkle of her youth and, looking for acceptance once again in the tribe, tries to regain her former glamour.

Along the way, there is  a lot of amazing music, vocals, and choreography. I wouldn't reccommend this movie for younger children because some of the costumes are tight and there are several scenes and cats that are suggestive in nature.

At one point, Cameron (who was in the living room) says, "Misha! Why are you watching this?!?" I looked at him and said, "Why are YOU watching this. Put your nose in that book!" Since the version we had was a cassette tape and the only VCR (old old technology there) we have is in the living room, I couldn't watch it anywhere else.

Overall, it was an interesting movie, my parents watched the second half and all they could see was the 80s-ness of the movie but sometimes that's okay... Except when after that point, all you can think of is 80s. Otherwise, the movie was pretty cool. Probably not on my favorites list though.

☆☆☆☆

My Geography Skills

Dad: So I walked into work today and said, 'Welcome to Fairbanks, Arizona!'

*laughter*

Me: *pause* Wait- where's Fairbanks?
Dad: Alaska.
Me: Oh. *delayed laughter*

Dad:

That's not nearly as impressive as your geography skills!!!

Explosion in the Kitchen

BUDDING CHEMIST BUSTS PYREX® DISH!

The remains of the 2-cup Pyrex® measuring cup.

While calibrating a candy thermometer, Misha, budding chemist, was lucky to be found alive after the explosion of a 2-cup, glass, measuring cup in their kitchen mid-morning, Tuesday.

The explosion was a shock and, though not expected, provided much laughter for the homeschooler and her mother. Her mother states that she had warned the girl that the temperature the dish could handle was unknown.

When asked if, despite the explosion, the desired results were achieved, Misha had this to say, "I think I have enough data to finish the experiment and write my report. The experiment was faulty to begin with since my thermometer did not go lower than 25°C (37°F), but as I said before, I believe I have enough data to do what [the textbook] wants me to do."

There were no apparent injuries but the soup (pictured in the top right corner) is most likely ruined and there is much clean-up yet to be done. The glass is everywhere in the kitchen and even into the dining area off the kitchen. The stove-top was covered. She was not wearing safety goggles.